Groups Ask SEC to Do Nothing on Terrorism-Link
Info

January 22, 2008 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Two business
groups have asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) not to reinstate a Web tool aimed at helping investors
identify companies with investments in countries the United
States designates as "sponsors of terrorism."

“Sensitive judgments have to be made and the SEC is
the wrong place to be doing it,” said Todd Malan,
president of the Organization for International
Investment, which represents foreign companies, in a
Reuters news report. In November, the agency asked for
public comment on whether to provide investors with
access to information on companies with possible
terrorism-linked investments (See
SEC Reconsidering Terrorist Tracking
Tools
).

The Organization for International Investment and
the National Foreign Trade Council are urging the SEC not
to do anything.

In June, the SEC added to its Web site a tool that
permitted investors to obtain information directly from
company disclosure documents about their business
interests in countries the U.S. Secretary of State
designated “State Sponsors of Terrorism.” (See
SEC Makes Terrorism-Link Info Available
to Investors
). The tool received criticism including a letter by
House of Representatives Financial Services Committee
Chairman Barney Frank asking the regulator to consider a
more accurate method for compiling the list, and arguing
that some of the companies on the list dumped their ties
with the terrorist states since the list was created (See
Legislator Condemns SEC’s Method for
Pinpointing Terrorist State-linked Companies
).

The SEC disabled the tool, and turned to the public
for advice. The deadline for public comment was January
22.